We had a blast here this Saturday as a family. My son loved the derecho slide and the corn palace…read more He was enamored with making bubbles so much he didn't want to leave. I enjoyed picking flowers and looking at the butterflies. The wine slushies were delicious and refreshing after picking the wildflowers/sunflowers. Ended with fries, wine and live music to wrap up the night. Beautiful farm to come enjoy the summer in. Highly recommend!

One of the first farms I visited, as a "sight-seer" and the FIRST farm I took my son to. Even as a…read morenew mom, all kinds of thoughts floating around in your head, consuming your attention, I was still able to relax and enjoy the setting - The goats were probably most interesting and active The different activity areas were cool and unexpected; swings, climbing apparatuses, "lounging"/seating areas, inflatable jumper, etc Definitely enough to keep children entertained & occupied. We could've stayed even longer, but I came unprepared for the blowout my baby had... Plenty of easy parking

So much fun this year! Made a few new friends! All the different foods & activities. Saw so many…read moreinteresting performances. Enjoyed the empanadas and quesadilla and yucca balls and jewelry. Such great flavors of food and delicious drinks. It was definitely a few blocks bigger last year but this year did not disappoint. Saturday night music was fantastic. Lotta very nice personable vendors with great merchandise and lovely stories to tell. Will continue going regularly.

Free entry to this great event is a huge plus. I love the wide variety of vendors, food and…read morebeverage options available, which really is a huge part of what this event is about. All the vendor have a "taste" option on the menu for $2 (they have predetermined what that item is). I think it makes exploring a variety of things easier to do without crushing your budget or completely over eating. They also have a variety of local and international beers for sale and free live music. Fun family-friendly event!

This is a wonderful free event. With food and beverages available for purchase…read more Sponsored by the local Coors & Miller distributor along with a host of others. Organized by the Cedar Valley Jaycees and the Cedar basin Jazz Festival. A wonderful beer selection, Mikes Hard, assorted varieties. Fat Tire, Ranger, Shift, by New Belgium brewing co. Coors and Coors Light. Tecate, Miller and Miller light, Angry Orchard hard cider and Reds apple ale. Inflatable jumpers for the kids provided by Thorp family fun, 1$ for 5 minutes or 5$ for all night. Two food venders per evening. Beautiful setting along the Cedar River behind the Icehouse museum Lots of fun for the whole family. Remember to bring lawn chairs or a blanket.

How have I never written a review!?…read more Colony Acres Family Farm is an NL staple-- having been around for over 25 years! In the summer it boasts sunflowers. In the fall there's games, food/drinks, pumpkin patch picking, a market and of course, the corn maze. In the winter Colony Acres offers fresh-cut trees and Santa. I've only event ventured here during the fall-- tickets are $11-16. (*Pro Tip: order online to save a few bucks a ticket.*) My kids adored the zip line, slides, train ride, bouncy pad and corn maze. We typically don't get pumpkins here but there's a wide selection of those-- mums, corn stalks, hay bales and more. The farm is closed Mondays and Tuesdays during the fall. It allows dogs! There's plenty of parking. Staff is uber friendly. Stop by.

I am going to review this as if I had kids. If I had kids, this place would've been awesome! There…read morewere tons of activities for the kids to do, things for them to play on, some kind of bouncy thing(that's a fairly technical term), just a lot of really cool stuff for kids. However, if you don't have kids, save your money as there really isn't anything for adults to do. Sure, there is a corn maze, but that is really it. Like I said, though. If you have kids, check this out as it looks as if it would be a blast.

A yearly wonderful celebration of all things Art in the Iowa City and surrounding area. It takes…read moreplace throughout downtown with whole streets lined with shops showcasing just about any art medium you can think of. We saw some great blown glass, plenty of paintings and lot in between. Everyone here is obviously proud of what they're doing and it shows in the pricing. Worth you time if you're looking for something out of the ordinary. The food row is the same stuff that often shows up downtown and ranges from Gyros, to chicken to Korean tacos and bubble tea. It's good stuff and an increasing number of them are taking credit cards, which makes things a lot easier. There's plenty for kiddos and a parade of Friday evening. Well worth checking out, with or without the kids.

Very nice art festival held typically the first week of June in downtown Iowa City. You can expect…read morea lot of different art vendors, live music, and fresh prepared food trucks. They do a good job of kicking summer off right. I've been a few times and have always enjoyed it.

OPA!!!! Whooooo hoooo...my 250th review!! My Big fat Greek…read moreFestival. It's hot and humid but that doesn't stop people from enjoying a good Greek festival. I came at 11:30am and things were just getting started. By the time I left, it was packed with people. It's not a huge festival, but it's till worth visiting. This festival lasts all day long until 10pm. Plenty of Greek food, Greek beer, Greek music, dancing and more. Remember to go to the ticket booth first. Each ticket is worth $1.00 You can redeem your tickets at each of the booths you desire to go to. Example: Want a Gyro? That's 6 tickets. Service is fast so you don't have to wait too long. Grab a chair under the canopy and enjoy the sights and sounds. There's even a Greek bake sale inside the church if you want to take home some baklava or other Greek pastries. Have fun! OPA!!!

I attended the inaugural Des Moines Taco Festival yesterday at the Western Gateway Park. Here are…read morea few of my thoughts. I honestly had it in my head that I wasn't going to go, but I was given a general admission ticket. Heather had plans...I didn't have my kids...so I headed down to check it out after the ISU OU game. The 400 lb gorilla in the room. The weather sucked the majority of the day. That being said no one I was among was really complaining about it. This was an all ages event. General admission was $12 and kids 12 and under were free. The Western Gateway Park was completely fenced off. The entrance to the festival was on the East side of the park. Not knowing that I parked on the West end off of 13th and Locust so I had a walk to start my visit with. No biggie. At the entrance the process went well. If you planned on drinking and were over 21 you presented your ID along with your ticket and you were given a wristband to indicate you were of legal age. I don't really drink for the most part, but I got my pink wristband just in case. After entering one of the first tents was setup to buy tokens. Everything was on a token system. One token = $2.00. Non-refundable so be careful not to buy too many tokens... Tacos were $2.00 each. Drinks varied from what I read. I did not partake in Tequila Fest or go into the bar tent yesterday so I have no experience with those aspects of this festival. There were two main areas for the food vendors. A line of trucks running East to West on Grand and a line of tents running North and South along 13th. Vendors typically had two lines going; an order line and a pickup line. After getting through the order line you proceeded to the back of the pickup line to get your food. Rinse and repeat. The lines... First of all I'm the wrong guy to talk about lines. Boot camp pretty much solved that issue for me. Festivals, concerts, amusement parks...just like being in a galley. I'm not a fan of unorganized crowds, but I can stand in a line all day. The lines were established by the people themselves. I saw no one giving direction, but I saw a lot of people helping each other out. Someone would step into the pickup line from the sidewalk and someone else would ask them "Have you ordered yet?". If they answered no they were politely pointed to the ordering line. I wasn't looking at my phone, but I would guess the lines I stood in were about 20 minutes order to pickup. I heard rumors there were times the wait at Mama's Tacos approached an hour. I can't confirm that. The weather was crappy. There was alcohol on site. And the organization was spotty in some areas. And yet everyone I talked to was having a good time. Some of you can probably can guess that I talk a lot...and I seldom stay quiet if an interesting conversation is going on around me... I think I ended up with a pretty good feel of how the people around me were doing. Not all tacos are created equal. Some $2.00 tacos were good sized (shout out to Curbin' Cuisine), and some $2.00 tacos were just sad. One thing I would recommend for the next taco festival... Stalk the pickup lines. Cruise by the people picking up their tacos and take a look at what is being delivered to them. Choose to spend your money wisely. Don't be afraid to walk up to someone and ask where they got something. Typically I approach other men to avoid the appearance I'm hitting on someone...especially when tequila is involved. No lucha wrestling was going on while I was there. The stage for the live bands was positioned well and if it hadn't been raining I bet it would have been utilized more. Because of the weather most of the people weren't in the chairs...they were listening from inside the bar tent. I missed the taco eating contest. Would I go again...with spending my own money for a ticket? I'd have to say yes. But I'd employ the tips I mentioned above. The first two places I hit...I was thinking "Thank God I didn't pay for this ticket." but when I started paying attention and talking to people I wasn't as disappointed with my purchases. There were some fantastic flavor profiles available to try. I had a good time. The people around me made it fun...despite the weather. Of course it was really hard to have a bad day, no matter what happened, after ISU got that W over OU. One additional shout out. To the wonderful woman with Per Mar security who let me slide through the fence when I headed home... Thank you! She shortened my walk back to my car by about four blocks up and back.

I had my first indoor football experience recently and was suprised at the fun and festivities that…read moretake place. This organization certainly has some die-hard and enthusiastic fans. It was almost a sold out crowd to come see the local football boys play. They have motorcycles, cars, horns, fan-participation, and announcements the entire game. There were a ton of little kids there getting autographs from the players and getting an opportunity to get up close and personal with the athletes. They did have the Titan Dolls Pom-Pom girls and I guess for some this is a great addition but it just reminded me of senior night at a high school game as they spent a lot of time announcing each girl and she was escorted out on the field by her parents.....it was just a bit much as these ladies are well into their mid 20's ---I have to give props to the owners and organizers as they certainly know how to fill a stadium and get the locals behind this. You can buy shirts for 15-20 dollars and I even got myself one of those big old long horns to blow. The players are viewed as local celebrities and get a lot of attention. The tickets are a variety of prices --I ended up springing 40.00 for seats three rows back from the field so I was right in the action. Not as exciting as an outdoor game but still impressive...

Loved this FREE event at a gorgeous North Liberty park. Recognized some familiar names on the…read morevending and music lineups and figured I'd make the drive from Marion to support my friends. I knew it was a longstanding community event, but didn't realize the scope of production that goes into it. The stage is MASSIVE and they had some really cool artists performing throughout the day. There was plenty of room to set up a blanket or chair, sip your beer, and enjoy the music. (It did start to fill up quickly in anticipation of the last two acts, so grab your spot early!) There were stations with fans blowing cool mists, free ice water tanks, and a few places to get out of the sun. The Blues & BBQ sign is a great photo opp. In addition to the beer tent by the stage, there were about ten vendors or so offering a variety of sips and bites. A little something for everyone, including multiple bbq options, tacos, shaved ice, and ice cream. I know the beer tent is a big factor in keeping this free, so it would be great if there was more than one non-alch option (and ideally root beer wouldn't be the same price as a beer - say $4 or $5 instead of $7). All in all, really great community event. I heard a rumor the park is being renovated to add shade and other amenities, so next year there will not be a festival. I'm sure it'll come back bigger and better than ever!

Fun event and free for everyone! Had great weather this year that made it comfortable to enjoy the…read moreshows and food a little bit more. All musical acts were awesome and were so fun to listen to in front of the stage or out about the park. Inflatables and other park equipment for kids to climb and a good amount of shaded seating for everyone to enjoy. The food truck options keep growing so anyone can find something they like. I like to go sometime earlier in the day and then come back later to hear the final show, all while trying some good brisket or pulled pork.